by Fern Shaw | Jul 31, 2015 | water cooler
Having a great love of all things English – the language itself, the gram-mar, pronunciation, etc. – I’m always interested in the foibles and eccentricities that I hear about or read. In particular, I often wonder where certain expressions originate from and how they are propagated.
Like how did counting sheep become synonymous with falling asleep? And who coined the expression, ‘I should cocoa’?
According to Wiki, using sheep as a method of counting originates from ‘a story of counting sheep in the early twelfth-century Spanish work Disciplina Clericalis. The section – The King and his Story-teller – uses the idea of counting sheep humorously.’ Many centuries later this morphed into the repetitiveness of counting sheep as an idea to lull one into sleep.
‘I should cocoa’ – Two trains of thought (see? there’s another one!) here:
- Some believe this idiom comes from ‘I should think so’, but is normally used sarcastically to mean the opposite.
- This earnest if baffling expression of agreement comes from cockney rhyming slang. The phrase when used in full is “I should coffee and cocoa”, meaning “I should say so”.
(Know your) onions – An early editor of The Oxford English Dictionary was Charles Onions, and it became a compliment to say that someone knew as much as Onions. However, there is a rival belief that the expression derives from cockney rhyming slang, where instead of saying a person knew a lot of things, they’d say he knew “a lot of onion rings”.
Vent your spleen – Before modern medicine, it was held that particular organs were the ‘seat’ of certain emotions. The spleen was thought to be the origin of a person’s ill-humour, bad temper and mirth. Over the centuries, the mirth somehow became forgotten and only outbursts of bad temper are now blamed upon the spleen.
Then, there’s one of my favourites:
Bob’s your uncle – In 1885, Prime Minister Robert Cecil appointed Arthur Balfour as President of the Local Government Board and, the following year, Secretary for Scotland with a seat in the cabinet. In 1887, Balfour was given the highly prestigious post of Chief Secretary of Ireland. Did this effortless rise owe something to the fact that Robert Cecil was Balfour’s uncle? Many people thought so, and we acquired today’s handy expression for cause and effect.
Would be especially fun if I did have an Uncle Bob, but sadly I don’t. (I did, however, for years, say that the actor, Robert Shaw, was my uncle, but that’s a whole other story).
So here’s some fodder for you to share on your water cooler runs. People will think you’re all that with this knowledge tucked under your elbow. See? There’s three more, right there! Gosh, you’re clever!
by Fern Shaw | Jun 19, 2015 | water cooler
The Summer Holidays will soon be upon us and for many parents this can be more a cause for concern than a reason to celebrate – namely, what are the kidlets going to doooo all summer?
Stroll-surfing along the internet, I happened upon this rather lovely article:
*‘An Italian teacher has decided to forgo setting the usual holiday homework for his students and has instead given them a list of life advice.
Most schoolchildren in Italy are given school work to complete over the three-month summer holidays, which stretch from mid-June to mid-September. But Cesare Cata, who teaches at a secondary school in the central Le Marche region, wants his students to use their time off for less academic pursuits. “At least once, go and watch the sunrise”, he writes in the 15-point ‘homework’ list, which has since gone viral. Students are also told to wander beside the sea in the morning “thinking of the things you love in life”, and to dance shamelessly when the mood strikes, because “summer is a dance, and it is foolish not to take part”.
Students are told to dream of what they want their lives to be.
Mr Cata doesn’t want students to forget school completely, though, and urges them to read widely and use all of the new terms they learned in the past year. “The more things you can say, the more things you can think; and the more things you can think, the freer you are,” he says.
More than 3,000 people have shared the teacher’s Facebook post, and hundreds have left positive comments. “I wish I’d had a teacher like you who encourages reflection and introspection,” one person writes. The list seems to have struck a chord with many parents, who say they have shared it with their children. “Homework for life, not just for a season,” one Facebook user says, while another declares: “With a teacher like you, I would go back to school tomorrow!”
For your inspiration and reading pleasure, I’m including an extract of Cesare’s ‘homework’ – you’re to keep in mind that this is a very rough translation!
“1. In the morning, sometimes go to walk by the sea in total solitude: look how the sun is reflected and, thinking about the things you love most in life, feel happier.”
- Try to use all the new terms learned together this year: more things you can say, the more things you can think of; and more things you can think of, most are free.
- Read as much as you can. But not because you have to. Read why summer inspires dreams and adventures, and reading you feel like swallows in flight. Read why it is the best form of revolt to have (for suggested reading, ask me).
- Avoid all things, situations and people that make you negative or empty: Look for challenging situations and the company of friends that will enrich you, understand and appreciate you for who you are.
- If you feel sad or scared, do not worry: the summer, as with all the wonderful things, tries to make trouble the soul. Try to write a diary to tell your state (in September, if you like, we will read together).
- Dance. Shameless. On the track under the box, or in your room. Summer is a dance, and it is foolish not to take part.
- At least once, go see the sunrise. Remain silent and breathe. Close your eyes, grateful.”
When I think of all my homespun philosophies I bandy about at the water cooler, I admit to being a little embarrassed – this advice is really inspirational. Never mind the school children, I think I’ll be practising some of these ideas myself.
*from an article at the BBC – News from Elsewhere
by Fern Shaw | Jun 8, 2015 | Water, water cooler, Water Coolers
Last week I blogged about memes (see image above); the word itself always makes me a little uncomfortable – memes … Manitou’s …mammaries – but then that’s how my brain processes word association – it may not be how yours does. (Aren’t you lucky?!)
With memes in mind, I got to thinking about what it is that makes people associate water coolers (or more correctly – areas where water coolers are) with humour?
It’s pretty simple if you think about it – when people head off to replenish their daily H20 quota (and another Blogista aside – isn’t it nice to know that nowadays you have a plethora of water cooler machines to choose from – even ones to fit on your desktop – aha – like your desktop does) – it’s usually their downtime; take a break time; time to walk off work related stress; so ostensibly when they reach the water cooler and they see a colleague (or two or five), they remember that they haven’t shot the breeze; told the latest joke; compared footie scores; swapped a bit of skinny – so they break into full splab.
Of course this sharing can often have pretty dodgy and potentially disastrous results – perhaps *Tim in HR doesn’t appreciate Maggie from Sales telling off-colour jokes and Pandora from Filing is ready to throttle Syd from Social Media because he keeps on winding her up about his team’s great results versus hers.
I think that pretty much explains the humour at the water cooler connection. If you don’t believe me, then take a stroll down to your water cooler – I guarantee you’ll see my hypothesis in action. If there’s no humorous activity, create your own. Remember though – directing the water from the water spout to squirt at colleagues probably won’t be perceived as funny.
*names and characters in this blog are all fictional.
by Fern Shaw | Jun 8, 2015 | water cooler
Do you get it? ‘ey, ‘ey, ‘ey?
I decided it’s again time for a little humour at the water cooler. Googling as I’m wont to do, I happened upon the above humorous meme. What’s a meme you ask? Well, before you think I’m becoming all teachery on you, I didn’t know what the term meant until I hauled myself up by my suspenders and eddicated myself.
A meme is ‘an idea, behaviour, or style that spreads from person to person within a culture’. A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols, or practices that can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals, or other imitable phenomena with a mimicked theme. Supporters of the concept regard memes as cultural analogues to genes in that they self-replicate, mutate, and respond to selective pressures.
The word meme is a shortening (modelled on gene) of mimeme from the Ancient Greek mīmēma, (‘imitated thing’, ‘to imitate’, ‘to mime’) coined by British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins in The Selfish Gene (1976) as a concept for discussion of evolutionary principles in explaining the spread of ideas and cultural phenomena. Examples of memes given in the book included melodies, catch-phrases, fashion, and the technology of building arches.
And here I was thinking it was just a term coined from pop culture! Even before I knew what memes were, I loved them – to me they are a perfect and succinct manner in which to get humour across – an image and a few lines of text: Message Delivered, thanks for playing – boing!
So, before your next trip to hydration central (i.e. the water cooler) have a look for a selection of the latest memes and take them with you – you’re sure to get a laugh. Just remember though, to perform an internal sensitivity test before you show them to all and sundry – you may find blue language accompanied by a bizarre image to be humorous, but your colleagues may not. Rule of thumb – stick to the images of serious babies and toddlers accompanied by some wise saying – that’s sure to raise a few chuckles.
by Fern Shaw | Mar 30, 2015 | Water, water cooler
I’ve noticed a rather disturbing trend has raised its invasively shaped head on the worldwide web in the last few years.
The every single day of the year allocated to some cause or other trend. Frankly, I find it exhausting. There seems to be a post 20th Century gene that’s automatically wired into any being that has access to said worldwide web, never mind all forms of social media. I call it ‘The Post Modern Guilt Gene’.
‘Why the Guilt Gene?’ you make ask. Well, if you have a conscience – whether it’s vastly overdeveloped (like mine) or even if it’s just an infinitesimal smidgen of your primordial make-up – there seems to be a knee jerk response to every assigned day. That’s until you give yourself a stern talking to, otherwise you’ll be splabbing to all and sundry on days like … wait for it … Forgive Your Parents Day. I tiny goat you not. There is an actual bona fide day of this and it was today. I listened in horror and some disbelief as people from all over called, texted and e-mailed the radio station about what they had forgiven their parents about. Granted, a visceral Schadenfreude part of me did gasp and ooo while Pamela from Peterborough regaled all about how she had tried to forgive her mother for burning her hair with a homemade perm in 1985, but then common sense prevailed. THIS Day of Forgiving was neither relevant, nor important and certainly not worth clogging up the airwaves (or any other wave for that matter).
There are of course, aside from commemorative public holidays, days that actually are significant and are worth marking or remembering, but more often than not, they’re just silly. A few examples:
Towel Day – May 25
International Talk Like a Pirate Day – September 19. (Okay, I’ll admit, I’d probably participate).
No Trousers On The Tube Day – every year around January. (Do you really need to know what day exactly? Really?)
The aforementioned ‘Forgive your Parent’s Day’ – March 18, and not to forget, the all-important;
Fettucine Alfredo Day – February 7.
Perhaps I’m being irreverent (my usual resting state) and a bit mean-spirited, especially considering the tangents my brain takes me (and subsequently, you) on, but for my sanity, I think there will be a number of Days that I won’t be observing, commemorating or even acknowledging this year. Or any year for the foreseeable future for that matter.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve very N.B. matters in mind, as I hare off to the water cooler to make the water gloomph.
Hold the phone! How about an International Make your Water Cooler Water Gloomph Day? Think it’ll catch on?
